Mayawati blames Mulayam for Greater Noida farmers’ plight

Greater Noida, Aug 23 (IANS) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Saturday blamed her predecessor Mulayam Singh Yadav for the plight of farmers here who were demanding better compensation for their land, with at least four of them getting killed in an agitation.While she made no announcement for the farmers of Ghori Bachera and other villages who were killed in clashes with the police here this month, Mayawati said the farmers’ complaint was about the land acquired during the Samajwadi Party government.

“As many as 1,434 hectares of land was acquired by the Mulayam Singh government in 2006-07. The land was acquired at Rs.402 per square metre but our government revised the rate to Rs.800-850 per square metre effective from April 2007. All farmers are satisfied now,” Mayawati said.

Inaugurating the first session of a management programme and the new administrative block of the Gautam Buddha University here, Mayawati, who is its chancellor, said the new institute would provide world-class education.

“I dreamt of such a world-class institute six years back and today it is a dream come true. Through a special Act, work began on it in 2002. But it was later stopped by the Mulayam Singh government and the land turned into a concrete jungle. We then took it up on priority basis and expedited work in January 2008,” Mayawati said.

She accused the Samajwadi Party of stalling many projects in the district initiated during her earlier tenures.

“During the last one year, 82 engineering colleges have been set up in the state with private participation,” the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief said.

An institute modelled on the Indian Institute of Science (IIS), Bangalore, would be developed in Noida, she declared, adding that a proposal for an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Lucknow was also under consideration.

She also announced a number of development initiatives for the district.